Birds of Vermont Museum

Our grandson Anthony (6) and I have a favorite place to visit ~ the Birds of Vermont Museum in Huntington.  The binoculars are for viewing the birds in the woods outside the museum.  Anthony has always been science-minded and loves to find out about animals, their habitat and what they do, eat, etc., then he pretends to BE the animals.  He was a baby owl for nearly a year!

Anyway, last time we went we met Bob Spear, age nearly 90, who founded the museum and carved nearly every bird, along with assembling the habitats.  It's an amazing place.  When I heard there was going to be a pre-opening habitat construction event for kids, I signed us up.  Grandpa Ed has just returned from his winter jaunt to California, so be took him along so Anthony could show him the wonderful exhibits.  Then we joined with museum staff, explored some habitats and set out to build a "home".  Anthony chose to "be" the Great Blue Heron and we put together a little diorama with materials supplied by the museum.

All the kids had so much fun - here are some other projects.  We'll definitely be back for future events, hiking the grounds and just visiting the birds.  You should go!

After a busy morning, the boys conked out for a while!

A great week at NEIPP and PPANE

I just got back from a fabulous week of education and fun at the New England Institute of Professional Photography on Cape Cod.  The photos above show Michael and Tina Timmons, the instructors in my class, BEFORE and AFTER we wore them out answering every question at least twice!

We had a blast AND learned so much.  Seriously, I have to retype my notes before I forget what I scribbled!

Thanks to everybody in the class ~ Gail, Ella, Nancy, Andrea, Mark, Rick and Doug who asked the right questions to get us to open up our inner artistes.

I can't wait for Vermont "mud season" to be over so I can head out and shoot scenery.  I never thought I'd say that, being a dyed-in-the-wool portrait artiste.

Well, of course it was April on Cape Cod, so we had our share of wind and rain to deal with.  Our trip to the beach was, well, blustery.  I had to admire David, a student who came all the way from Nigeria to join us for sticking with it in the beach shoot.  It was NIPPY!  Thanks to Nancy Green and Steve Lourenco for so many of these great photographs.

We took our instructors out to dinner on Wednesday and it happened to be Michael's birthday.  He's from Michigan, so a big lobster was in his plans.  (This is the same guy who complained all week that NEIPP was over feeding him.)  It's true we felt like they fed us every 20 minutes.

I did get to take some special portraits in my spare time (!).  I've known Melvin Guante and Joyce Holt for a long time and knew they'd both like updated head shots.  Then I met David Immanuel and interviewed him for the PPANE newsletter since he came such a lo-o-o-ng way, so he needed to be photographed, too.  We found a great spot inside the hotel (since it rained...a lot).

Below are some of my class projects - all taken inside the hotel, as per our assignment.  I really enjoyed learning new techniques for "arting up" these images.  Now...how to market this kind of thing?

Here's the whole NEIPP gang:

Photographers Party Hearty

I spent last weekend at the Vermont Professional Photographers convention and print competition at the Woodstock Inn.  I've been a member of this elite group since 1985 (yup, I was only 12 when I joined) and they have always been a a source of support, learning and camaraderie.

This convention was no exception to our rule of learning mixed with fun.  I roomed with my homies, Patricia and Robin and also served as chair of the print competition jury.  Pictured above are incoming VPP president Terry Norris and print committee chairman Lucas DeSousa.  The images submitted were beautiful and top award winning images can be seen on the VPP web site.

Here's a photo of Terry and the Pirates.  If you're too young to remember that Sunday comics strip, well, think of it as President Terry and his loyal band.  There are other hardworking board members, but they had scattered so we rounded up this gorgeous crew.

I served two terms as VPP President and one as President of the Professional Photographers Association of New England (PPANE, pronounced 'pain' and, yes, we're the queens of PPANE).  With me are Nancy Green, current PPANE Pres and Donna Goodhue who also served in that position.  PPANE is over 100 years old and has had six women presidents - FOUR of whom were from Vermont.  On the right is my dear friend Julie, another fab photographer.

In case you ever thought photographers might not be big camera hogs...  Thanks to judge and speaker Walter Van Dusen for setting up his "photo booth" so we could fool around in front of a camera for hours after our banquet and awards ceremony.

In the photos below:  Gillian and Walter pointing (which you're not supposed to do during judging!); Lucas, Susan and Terry; royal PPANE Nancy Green; retiring President Diane and husband John; Andrea and Lynnette; Lucas and a lampshade; Diane and Kelly.  Congratulations to Kelly who received the 2011 VPP President's Medal for all her hard work and support over the past year.